


Not The Only Metal-Bender

by Thewolvesden



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Backstory that will appear, But still immersed into an MCU-like enviroment, Drug Use, Many other OCs - Freeform, Mental Health Issues, Mostly X-Men, Multi, Mutant Politics, Mutant Registration Act, Original Character-centric, Recreational Drug Use, Sokovia Accords, Timeline is shifted a few years, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, established universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:21:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewolvesden/pseuds/Thewolvesden
Summary: Just as he thought his day couldn't go worse, Alexander Rózsa's mutant powers activate at the worst time... after the Battle of Sokovia and the start of the Sokovia Accords debate. Now besides his issues, he'll also have to cope with, you guessed it, discrimination.Join him, as he explores his mutant powers of metal-bending (entirely aware his powers are the same as Magneto's), and see how the world around him will mold him.





	1. A Day Gone Horribly Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so first of all, I want everyone to know that this is my first story in this Fandom, and I've been mulling over this character for a while. I promise not to make him a Mary Sue, and to actually have him earn his stuff. 
> 
> Second of all, this universe is an amalgamation of the X-Men movieverse, MCU and a few other Marvel properties. And yes, Big Hero 6 is in it, but in the comic book version, not the Disney movie version. If you want to offer ideas for some stuff, feel free to. 
> 
> Third of all, this story will mostly take place in Vienna. Road names are translated into English, as to not subject you to the horrible pronounciation of the German language, and all locations are based on real places.

"Oh my god, you did it!“. Alex ran towards Charly, who was crying tears of joy. Right behind him were Charly’s friends, whom Alex didn’t know too well. Andi was a small boyish-looking girl wearing a Nirvana t-shirt under a plaid shirt. Tamara was Andi’s total opposite, a tall girl with long hair dyed platinum blonde, black lipstick and dressed in all black. Behind the two were Chrizzie and Patrick, whom Alex did know. They were a cute couple, but different from each other as day and night. Chrizzie was more outgoing and friendly, but also anxious, while Patrick was rather quiet, but a very good listener. 

Charly jumped into Alex's arms, and Alex could feel how she trembled. "I knew you could do it", he reassured her. "You were great out there."

This had been Charly's first stage performance ever, and she had been scared to even sing in front of her friends, much less in front of an audience. Charly went to the others, embracing them for being there for her. The contest she was participating in had good contestants, and them being there had meant a lot to her. 

"Oh my god, girl, you were GREAT out there!", said Tamara excitedly. She hugged Charly even tighter, and Charly had to intervene, because she was suffocating in Tamara's embrace. 

The others complimented her as well. Her performance had been very nice, a bit awkward, and you could hear the anxiety in Charly's voice, but it had been very good nonetheless. 

"I doubt I'll reach the final, though", said Charly, dejected. Everyone else just stared at her as if she had sprouted a second head all of the sudden. 

"That's literally impossible", said Andi, and Chrizzie chimed in: "You sang better than me last year at the contest. Which says something."

Charly, though, was having none of it. All of them went out of the building the contest was being hosted in, that being a school, and started smoking cigarettes. Alex took out a bottle of water he had filled with beer from his backpack, and handed it over to Charly. They had 15 minutes until the finalists from the second round would be announced. 

Patrick, the only non-smoker, stared almost judgingly at the others, as if to say that smoking kills you. But the others knew already that it was meant as a joke, and they all soon started laughing. The other contestants were also coming out to smoke, and even some of the backstage crew. 

"Ok, but can we all agree that none of the rappers will reach the final?" Everyone nodded to that. Alex hadn't been too impressed by the rappers. They all followed the same style, had about the same flow and didn't have any substance in their music. Only one had managed to impress him, and he had in addition to an impressive flow and a differing beat also lyrics with substance, which pleased him. 

"I don't know, that Mehmet dude with the really nice flow and the good lyrics might reach the final."

Everyone murmured their agreements to that, they found that the Mehmet guy was pretty cool. 

An awkward silence followed, which was only interrupted by Chrizzie: "Hey, Patrick and I will go to Black Soul. It's a metal bar near my apartment, and I know a couple of the bartenders. Do you guys wanna come?"

Andi spoke first: "I don't know, Chriz, I'm pretty tired. Maybe, I'll think it over." 

Tamara followed: "Sorry guys, I got work tomorrow, maybe another time?" Everyone groaned in response, even Charly. "Oh come on, Tammy, please." Alex had deduced from meeting Tamara earlier that she couldn't withstand Charly's pleas and puppy eyes. "Ok, if Charly goes to the next round, I'll come. But only for a biz."

All eyes turned on Alex, who hadn't said anything. He was uncomfortable with the staring. "Yeah, I'll come. Sure." He wasn't actually really up to it, but he had nothing better to do on a Thursday evening, so he thought nothing of it.  _I'll be dead tomorrow at school,_ he thought,  _but whatever. Guess I'm gonna be drunk, then._

The group went inside again. The announcements were about to begin. They entered the concert hall of the school, and seated themselves a bit in the back, far away from other people. The host of the song contest began speaking. "Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, only sixteen acts can enter the final, and the first eight have already been chosen yesterday! So, we'll announce the finalists!"

The air began to thicken as the contestants and their supporters were excited to find out who'll go to the final.

"Ok, so the first finalist is... The Red Dawn Rises, the band composed of old participants to our contest!" Cheers began to be heard, as the members of The Red Dawn Rises began climbing on the stage, clearly happy. 

The host continued. "The next one is... MC Swagga Ali!" Though mostly cheers were heard, some boos were also heard. People didn't like his style too much. Alex heard Tamara complain about him to Andi, Chrizzie and Patrick. 

And so it continued, for the next three finalists. While the cheers were in the air, Alex could see Charly's hopes going down and down. The fifth finalist to be announced was Mehmet, the good rapper, and even he cheered for him then. 

"Ok, the sixth finalist of this night is... Charly, the newcomer to music!" Tamara and Chrizzie cheered as loud as possible, as did Alex, while Charly rushed towards the stage, all smiles and tears of joy. Even from the back, Alex could see that she was very shocked, but also happy to have reached the final. 

After the ceremony was over, another round of hugs and cheers came from the small group of friends. Then it was off to the Black Soul. Chrizzie even managed to convince Andi to come, and they knew they'd have fun. 

"The first round is on me, guys, but after that, you'll have to buy shit yourself", said Alex. 

* * *

It took about 25 minutes to reach the Black Soul. Vienna's metro system made it easier for all of them to not worry about having to go there on foot, as it was far away from where the song contest took place. They had just taken the brown line from Longfield Road to Wahring Street. From there, it was a five minute walk from the station to the bar. As soon as they entered, loud rock music was playing. Alex recognized the band playing the song as being Mötley Crüe, but didn't remember the song title. 

Chrizzie and Patrick went to the bar, and the bartender did recognize them, as they promised. They swiftly got a table for six, and Alex quickly ordered 20 tequila shots for everybody, to the cheer of all. After all, he owed Charly a bit of money, and he felt guilty over it. 

"Well", said Patrick, "to Charly and to her reaching the final!" An echo of cheers followed him, and they downed the shots in two minutes. While the girls went to dance on the dancing floor, Alex remained with Patrick at the table. 

Patrick started the conversation: "Thanks for the shots, dude. I hope we didn't use up too much of your money."

Alex shrugged "Meh, don't worry about it. It's fine, I finally got the money I was owed by my boss. About 300 euros."

Patrick nodded thoughtfully. "How'd you meet Charly anyway? She mentioned you a few times as a cool dude, and she said people think you guys are together?"

Alex laughed at that. "Dude, you have no idea. We met though our shared psychologist. We have the same therapy group session every Thursday. The one we skipped for the contest. And yeah, a girl in our group is thinking we're together, or at least about to get together."

Patrick joined in the laughter. "Wow, that sounds amazing. Wait, you go to the same psychologist as Charly. You also have Wolfgang as your psychologist?" Alex nodded.

"Yeah, and I know he's pretty shitty to Charly. He's just so inconsiderate sometimes. And I mean, he's not doing it because he's mean, he's just not considerate enough. And let's be real, Charly must've told you about our OTHER psychologist, Dani."

Patrick nodded. "So... why are you in the group. If you don't mind, that is."

Alex chewed his lip. He dreaded being asked, but he couldn't refuse. "Sure. I have issues with my parents. Communication and relationship issues with them. Add to that social anxiety."  _And a lot more,_ Alex thought, but he wasn't about to say that. 

Just as Patrick wanted to respond, Charly and Andi returned to the table with another row of shots. Chrizzie and Tamara were not far behind, equally excited. Patrick, however, was not as impressed. "Do you guys honestly want to be completely wasted tomorrow." A chorus of 'yes' followed, leading to Patrick facepalming. Alex didn't mind. He hated school anyway. 

The girls sat down at the table and divided the shots in five, as Patrick knew he'd have to be responsible for Chrizzie, who was already pretty buzzed. Only after a lot of convincing did he accept one of Alex's shots, and even then was he worried about his girlfriend. 

After they finished the shots Alex came with Charly and Tamara to the dance floor. He was too buzzed to recognize the song, but headbanged to the song and lifted the smaller Charly on his shoulders for fun. He ran around with her on his back for a while, but the bartender came and said that he said he needed to put her down.  _Spoilsport,_ he thought. 

He went to the toilet, and after finishing his business there, while returning to the main room, he saw a poster for a concert there next Tuesday. To his surprise it was a concert by the Cat's Laughter, a British punk and alternative band, which he discovered through Charly. He had no idea that they were coming here. The poster was in a retro-80s style, showing the lead singer Lila Cheney, a beautiful woman with long black hair, and her band mates standing in positions reminiscing of other great bands of the 80s. The date for the local concert, as Cat's Laughter was known to only give concerts in small venues, was literally in a few days, and tickets were only 10 Euros, which was great. Alex made a mental note to go to that concert. 

Content, he returned to his friends, and continued to party more. 

* * *

 _Shouldn't have drunk so much tequila...,_ Alex thought. As the only one of the group living in the western part of Vienna, he had the longest way home of all of them, and as such, left the earliest. But all of them bar Patrick were drunk to hell.  _I hope everyone gets home safe._

He arrived at the Wahring Street station, and had to wait for the brown line to arrive.  _35 minutes take forever, man,_ Alex thought.  _Just my kind of luck to barely miss the train and have to wait another half-hour._ He wandered around aimlessly in the station, which for a metro was ironically not underground, but several meters high above the Belt Road below. A cold gust of wind blew through the station, and besides him, only another guy on the other side stood in the station. Alex zipped his leather jacket up. 

After several minutes of sluggish pacing, Alex felt dizzy and went to sit down. He noticed two groups of people entering the station. The first were two men around his age or a bit older, so around 18-20, while the other were three older men, maybe in their thirties or fourties. He closed his eyes, knowing he had another 20 minutes to wait until the train would come. 

Just then, he felt someone grab him by the collar of his jacket and pull him up from the bench. He instantly opened his eyes to see the two boys his age trying to roughhouse him. "Give us your money, or we'll beat you up."

Alex, in his delirious drunkenness, told them: "Dude, I don't have any money, I think. Leave me alone."

For that, he was thrown of the bench and onto the floor. Instantly the two assholes starting kicking him in the sides. Alex felt like vomiting, but only groaned in pain. Then, one of them picked him up, and punched him straight into the face and the stomach, as if he were a punching bag. The pain went on for a long time, and he felt defeated. Alex's phone fell on the floor, but luckily the two aggressors didn't notice it. 

The one facing him pocketed him for his wallet, which they quickly found. In order to stop Alex from struggling, the one holding him up was kicking knees into his back and then threw him on the floor. He was faced in the direction of the bench, so he hit his head on it. 

In that moment, he felt something more than just pain. It was as if he could feel several things and the fields around them. It was as if a switch had just been turned on, but he could never ever turn it off again. He felt so many things, so many objects. He wanted to end his assailants, so he did. 

While distracted with taking out money from Alex's wallet, the dude didn't notice the metal bar from above coming in and coiling around him, pressing around him and slowly building more pressure. The second guy tried to flee, but he soon shared the same fate. 

Alex stood up. He felt powerful. Mighty, even. He had no idea what was going on, but simply plucked the wallet from the first guy's hand and stuffed the bills the guy took out back in. He then balled up his fists, and instantly the pain continued, with the metal bars coiling around them and pressing further and further. Alex wouldn't have stopped if it weren't for the tap on his back. 

When he turned around, another metal bar came and threatened the man. Alex just noticed he had ripped it from the ceiling of the station. Two other guys were behind him, ready to attack Alex, but as soon as Alex noticed that the man who tapped him on the back was friendly, he let the bar fall. 

"Easy, young man. Killing these two could get you in some serious trouble." Only then did Alex recognize what he was doing, and asked himself what the hell was happening. 

"Leave him, Zemo, he's clearly having no idea of what's happening." The guy with black hair and face scars was speaking to the guy in front of him. He had an American accent to him, while he couldn't place the one of the man before him. The smaller, almost bald guy in the back hadn't said a word yet. 

Alex, however, was still shocked about the metal tubes under his control, and was in utter shock. 

"Oh God", he said, not even noticing he was thinking out loud. "I'm a mutant."  _My parents will kill me,_ he thought. 


	2. New Powers, New Neighbours

Exiting at Meidling Street, Alex Rózsa was only able to exit the metro train with the help of the men who stopped him from killing those assholes that tried to rob him. Crossing over the Vienna River and then the street, Alex arrived at the front gate of his apartment complex. He typed in the code at the entrance and entered, walking through the inner yard. It started to drizzle a little. 

Alex was basically carried up the stairs by two of the three men when he arrived in front of his apartment. He searched for his keys, but before he could even grab them, they began sticking to his hand. Alex unstuck them from his hand and opened the door manually. 

It was the middle of the night. _Stephan_ _and Abel must be asleep already,_ Alex thought drunkenly. He arrived in the kitchen and was quickly bid to sit down by the black-haired man. The almost-bald man however wasn't happy. "Why do we have to help this kid?"

 "Shut up, Batroc, or you'll get hit too", said the black-haired guy. The brown-haired guy, whom the others had called Zemo and had been the one to tap him on the shoulder in the station, turned to Alex. "Where can I find a glass."

"Third cupboard." Alex's sides hurt, and he was pretty sure he had a nosebleed too.  _At least I have all my things,_ he thought. 

At that moment, Stephan came out of his room, and was completely shocked at seeing three adults with his brother in the kitchen. "Why are you here?" is all he could blurt out at that moment in the middle of the night. 

Zemo replied: "We found your brother being beaten up. We brought him here." The black-haired guy snickered, and only then did Alex notice that the almost-bald guy disappeared. Alex could only wonder where he'd gone. 

The black-haired scarred guy continued. "Your brother was kicking ass, though. But he was too beat up to bring him here. Even if Batroc here wasn't too happy, because he thought it'd be a detour." That confused Alex even more. 

"Sorry if I'm intruding, but why is it not a detour?" Zemo gave him the glass of water, and Alex drank it readily. 

Scarface, as he nicknamed the black-haired man with a scarred face, began to laugh. "Well, it seems you live right beside our AirBnB, kid." 

At that, Alex's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting to be helped exactly by the guys who rented out the AirBnB next to their apartment. He never usually had this much luck, and if he was lucky, he'd just have nothing happen to him. He looked towards Stephan in confusion, who only returned Alex's look of confusion. 

"Well, lucky me, I guess." Alex's head started to hurt a lot, and he had no idea how late it was. And he knew that if he woke Abel, he'd be dead the next day. He stood up from the chair Zemo had seated him in and filled his glass with tap water. He then took a deep drink, finishing the glass in one go. "By the way, guys, what is your name? I'm Alex."

Zemo and Scarface exchanged looks for a second, and then replied: "My name's Helmut. This is my friend Brock, and our friend who went in the AirBnB is Georges. Now you should sit, Batroc will soon-"

As if on cue, Batroc entered the room with a first aid kit. Alex had almost forgotten he was even injured, if he was honest. Batroc moved to tend to him, but Zemo stopped him. "I'll do it myself, you should go to sleep." And with that, both Batroc and Brock left Alex's apartment. Zemo started to look at the wounds Alex sustained. "Hmm, you're lucky. Besides a split lip and the need to suture your head wound, you'll be fine. Do you have any alcohol?"

Stephan intervened before Alex could respond and said: "We only have some whiskey. Let me get it." He quickly went into his room and brought back a half-empty bottle of whiskey.  _Two days ago, it was full,_ Alex thought.  _But I can't forbid my brother shit, so what can I do. I am a mess myself, in any case._ Zemo applied the whiskey with some cotton wipes on Alex's wound, and it burned. He then offered him the bottle. "Drink a sip, it helps."

Alex, too drunk to consider that it may not be a good idea, did as he was bid. He drank the whiskey, and while he felt the need to throw up, he resisted the urge. Just then, Zemo started suturing his head wound. It hurt like hell, but Alex powered through. He felt tears of pain rolling down his cheeks, and instantly felt ashamed.  _I shouldn't cry,_ he chided himself.  _I shouldn't be such a weakling._

Out of the blue, Stephan asked Zemo: "What actually happened to my brother? Like, did you and your friends see what happened, or did you just find him in this state?"

Zemo gave Stephan the ghost of a smile. "Well, we saw what happened. We were in the same metro station as he was, and he was being harassed by these two kids his age, when he started defending himself with his powers. I don't know what took him so long, but he definitely wrecked his attackers. Almost killed them, too." Alex suddenly became very, very sober. 

Stephan was baffled, and only managed a surprised 'What!?'. Zemo then realized this was a new development for both Alex and Stephan, so he began explaining: "Since it's obvious both of you didn't know, I'm going to have to explain it to you. You, Alex, are a mutant. Usually mutants develop their powers earlier, you seem a bit old, but it does not matter. He has some control over metal."

 _Well, that was as nonchalante as could be,_ thought Alex cynically. Just as he thought about explaining things to his brother, Zemo said: "I'm done here. I'll apply a bit more alcohol, and then you're good to go."

Alex was relieved, and while the wound still stung whenever Zemo applied alcohol to it, he was suddenly feeling not drunk at all. Zemo excused himself: "Well, I'm gonna leave you kids alone now. Good night." And with that, he also left Alex's apartment. Stephan went to lock the door, and he turned to Alex. "What the fuck, Alex! Why did you not tell me you're a mutant!? Why don't you trust me!"

Alex stood up quickly, and his brother's angry whisper-screaming induced a headache. "Dude, I didn't even know I was a mutant until now! You know I'd tell you! It just happened today, okay?"

Stephan looked confused. "Don't mutants usually get their power around 13, not at 18?" Alex shrugged in response. "I don't know, Stephan, it can happen anytime in their teens, as far as I know." That made Stephan's eyes widen. "Wait, anytime? With you being a mutant, I could also be one! Oh man, mom and dad are not gonna be happy!"

Alex snorted in response to that. "Tell me about it." He took out his phone to look at the time. It was 3 in the morning.  _Fuck, I have maths tomorrow,_ he thought. 

He cleared his throat and told Stephan: "Stephan, it's late. We both have school tomorrow, and I already know I'm dead. Let's go to bed." Stephan agreed and went into his room, quietly. Alex remained and made himself a sandwich, before going to bed. He had been practically starving!

* * *

Alex was woken up at 6 in the morning by his phone ringing incessantly. His head hurt a bit, but it wasn't something aspirin couldn't fix. Just as he was about to grab his phone, it flew directly towards him, as if possessed by something. Alex screamed and instantly his phone began to fall. He followed to grab it, but just as it was about to fall on the ground, it began floating towards Alex's hand again. Then he remembered that he was a mutant. 

Groaning and hoping he hadn't woken Abel or Stephan up, he answered the phone. "Hello?", he said groggily. 

"Alex, you didn't text me when you got at home! Everyone was worried!" Charly's voice came through the phone, and for once he was grateful Charly wasn't the type of person to scream into their phone at ungodly hours. 

He responded: "Sorry Charly, I had an incident, I completely forgot." Only after he finished did he notice what he said, and instantly regretted it. 

"An incident! What!? What happened, Alex! Are you okay!?" Alex noticed how Charly was going into instant panic mode.  _I fucked up,_ he thought.  _How do I tell her that I was assaulted, but somehow I turned out to be a mutant and was able to defeat those assholes._

He decided he'd tell her upfront. "I'm fine, Charly. You worry way too much." He made a slight pause. "Some dudes tried to rob me on the way home and they beat me up. I'll send a pic of my beautiful face, now featuring a blackened eye, a split lip and did I mention a suture?"

Charly started giggling, and Alex heard through the phone how she instantly started to relax. "Ok, so you're fine. What happened with those asshats? I want to know if they're gonna be around, because if they're still around, I'm gonna call in all my friends to look for them." Alex frowned at this.  _Charly, you're overreacting,_ he thought, but dared not say. 

"Yeah... about that." Alex hesitated. "It turns out, I'm a mutant? And, uh, I beat them up myself?" He hoped that Charly wouldn't freak out or anything, but the silence from her didn't bode well for him. 

"Wait, really," she finally managed. Her lack of a real answer made Alex nervous. 

"Umm... yeah. I'm equally as shocked, I know it's a lot to hear right now... I hope it's fine with you." Alex really hoped Charly wouldn't be bigoted against mutants.  _Then I'd lose my best friend,_ he thought miserably. His luck always seemed to be biased against him. 

Charly responded and sounded upset: "Wow, were you really thinking I'd think different of you? Oh man, I'm sorry you felt that way. Does anyone else know? And do- oh, your parents will kill you! Do you want us to meet somewhe-"

"It's fine, Charly. I'm happy you don't. You can come over at my place tonight, you know I have a bunk bed. The upper one is always free." Alex breathed a sigh of relief and finally stood up from his bed. Only now he noticed how much he could feel. He could feel the metal of his bed, the dirty fork in his dirty dishes he left in his room, the laundry rack, even the lighter he left on his table. He felt every single piece of metal in his room. 

"Umm, Charly, I'm gonna hang up now... gotta get ready for school." 

"Ok Alex, see ya later. And don't worry, I'm with you." She hung up, and Alex laid back into his bed, letting his phone lay on the bed next to him. He wanted to sleep for another while, but knew that if he fell asleep, he'd not get to school in time. So he stood up. 

He went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Luckily for him, the black eye wasn't too bad. It was only a bit swollen, and only slightly darkened, but it was noticeable he had been in a fight.  _I hope the others leave me the fuck alone,_ Alex thought. 

Alex's shower only took a few minutes, and him brushing his teeth even less. He changed into some questionably clean clothes, dissolved some aspirin in water and drank it, then went on to make coffee and breakfast. Ever since he moved in into the flat with his brother and Abel, Alex had become the resident cook. The kitchen was his realm, even if it was bad or good. He took out several eggs and some bacon from the fridge. As he reached out to take the moka coffee pot and a pan, he remembered that he had powers.  _Well, I guess I don't need to rely on hands, now,_ he thought. 

Using his hands, he felt the magnetic fields around the coffee pot and the pan, and slowly attracted them towards him. He then tried to use them without any hands, letting his hands down. At first, the pot and pan were floating down slowly as he was putting his hands down slowly, but soon enough, they stayed floating in the air. He began laughing in excitement. "Yes!", he whisper-screamed.

He started frying the eggs, while the coffee was being made. By the time the eggs were done, he had already set the table, and not soon after he had set everything on the plates, the coffee pot starting wheezing. Quickly thinking and in order to prevent burning his hand as he had done multiple times, he used his powers to pour the coffee into the mugs, then mentally added by controlling a tea spoon three sugar cubes to Stephan's coffee and two to Abel's. He finished pouring his own when Abel's door opened to reveal him ready to go to school.  _It's 6:30 in the morning, then,_ thought Alex. Abel was known for being quite punctual with waking up, unlike his brother.

"Morning Ale- Jesus Christ, what happened to you", exclaimed Abel. "Were you mugged last night?"  _Oh yeah, my face. I forgot._

Alex pointed to his face. "Oh this? They tried mugging me, alright. But I fucked them over good." He was hesitant to tell Abel, as he knew he was fine with mutants, but some of their shared friends are quite hostile, and they are quite anti-mutant. And Abel is sometimes a bit of a gossip.

Abel hummed in agreement. He sat himself down at the table and began eating, muttering a 'thanks' in between bites. Alex took out the milk from the fridge and put it on the table in order to add to the coffee. Then he went into his brother's room, and woke Stephan up. "Dude, wake up. We need to go to school soon."

Alex then pulled Stephan out of his bed and into a hug, to which Stephan replied: "Dude, what the fuck?" 

In order to clarify, Alex whispered into his ear: "Don't tell Abel about the mutant thing. He'll tell the others in Romania, and I'm not prepared for that." Stephan clearly understood that.

They went back into the kitchen, and they sat down to eat. As usual, Alex finished first, almost inhaling the food, while also sipping his coffee. Then he went into his room, packed his backpack for school in a hurry, put on a jacket and boots, took a selfie and sent it to Charly and went out. He looked at the time on his phone. It was almost 7.

 _Wow, I'm not late for once,_ he thought.  _Maybe I'll be left alone at school for once._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Zemo is in Vienna, and allied to Rumlow and Batroc. As for why Zemo would help our protagonist Alex, you'll find out soon. It's all with a reason.
> 
> In all seriousness, you can ask me questions in the comments. I can explain a bit on the universe I compiled over there.


	3. Well-Deserved Weekend

The last bell of the day rang, and Alex couldn't have been any happier. School had sucked today, hard. It wasn't helping that he was repeating a grade, and that he hated most of his new teachers. But at least his classmates were ok.

Truly, he'd already had finished with school earlier, as Alex could change clothes quite fast, and his last two lessons had been PE, but nonetheless, he was happy that the weekend had finally started. His first lesson of the day had been maths, with his class teacher. It had been fine, Alex guessed, but he was tired and annoyed of learning the same thing again. The rest of his lessons had been fine: English had been ok, they had watched a movie in Italian class, and in PE, they simply played some football.

He exited his school, the Federal School for Higher Education Vienna 3, also known as the Van Swieten Middle and High, after the street it was on. The sun was covered by grey clouds, as it was usually the case in the cold and windy city of Vienna. Alex shivered a bit in his jacket, but ignored it and moved on. He crossed the street to the other side, where an underground garage entrance provided shelter from the cold win blowing through the city. Once protected from the winds, he took out a cigarette from his almost empty pack and lit it, inhaling smoke in order to soothe his nerves and addiction. 

As usual, he was the first one in his class to arrive at the school smoking area on a Friday. Everyone else took way too long to change and shower or to get out of their class. On other days, Alex would take a bit more, what with packing his books he usually had chaotically laying around on his school desk.

One by one, Alex's classmates came out of the school as well. First came the girls: Theresa, the group leader of the 'cool chicks', followed in tow by Iris and Maria, the gossip girls, then Antonia, the loud and boisterous one of the girls, and last but not least, Carla, who was the quiet and reserved one. They all went over to Alex and quickly began making small talk.

Theresa began: "Oh my god, Ms. Stürner definitely hates you, Iris! Like, what the fuck, she can't go picking on you like that?! Maybe we should tell the principal."

Iris quickly shook her head and replied: "Theresa, that's a stupid idea, and you know it. Our principal is too stupid to understand the fact that I may have issues with Stürner because she is a bitch to me, but no, I'm the one at fault for everything." Iris then descended into a sullen silence.

Antonia broke said silence. "Iris, don't worry, if you ever want to go against Stürner, we got you. We'll back you. Right, guys?"

Everyone agreed to the sentiment, even Alex. He may not have known Iris or any of his other new classmates too well, but Ms. Stürner was annoying him. Even though she couldn't teach her subject, that being maths, she expected that everyone be perfect in it, even if she completely botched the lesson where she'd teach his class the material. 

Just then, Alex heard a shrill whistling whistling sound come over from the other side of the street. He turned around to see none other than Ivan, his best friend, gesturing towards him that he should to come to him. Alex wished his classmates, or at least the ones that had left the school at that moment, a nice weekend, and crossed the street to join Ivan. "You could've just come over, you know", said Alex he inhaled smoke from his cigarette. "You don't have an excuse to be lazy, man."

"Yeah, Alex, and you have one on Friday, as always. I know that. That doesn't matter right now, though. Do you wanna go eat some kebab?" The offer sounded thrilling to Alex, as the kebab was certainly going to be much better than whatever they were serving in the school canteen.  _Damn you, Ivan,_ he thought,  _why are you always so convincing._ Alex then replied: "How can I turn down such an irresistible offer?"

They started walking together towards the metro station Race Road, which served the pink line of the Vienna metro system, but also where other, less significant lines, passed through. Alex then asked his friend: "How was school for you today?"

Ivan frowned and then replied: "Tough. I had my German test today. Braunschweig will not be happy. I think I fucked up, if I'm honest. Otherwise, it was pretty chill. Marshall was late again for the first lesson, though. He slept in."

"Sounds typical of him", said Alex. "Mine was pretty bad. Not only was I hungover as fuck in the morning, I also had Stürner in the first class."

If that was even possible, Ivan frowned even harder. "Man, I hate your class teacher. Stürner is such a fucking bitch. Like for real, she speaks way too fucking fast, and you can't even keep up with her. It's so fucked up. I wish Heermann would be at school." Alex felt pity for his friend. Mr. Heerman had gone into a prolonged vacation due to his wife being on her last legs. She had stage 5 cancer and as far as it was known in the school, she could die at any moment. To replace him for the time being, Ivan and his old class got Stürner instead.

"Yeah, I know how it feels. She's annoying." Silence overcame the two, but Ivan quickly said: "Hey, do you have any plans for the weekend? I'm having a concert at Cafe Andre on Saturday."

Alex instantly knew he couldn't come and replied: "Sorry man, I've already got plans for Saturday. I'm going with a few friends to support another friend at a music contest. I won't be able to come, sorry."  _Please don't be mad at me, please don't be mad at me, please don't be mad at me,_ Alex pleaded in his mind. 

As it turned out, Ivan wasn't. "It's cool, I probably should've told you sooner, but we didn't have a chance to speak much this week. There's always other times, too."

The two of them reached Race Road, and took a turn to the right. As it was midday, the sidewalk was packed with kids from three schools in the area, namely their own school, the primary school on Hansgraf Street and the Czech middle school and high school of the Comenius Institute on Marksman Street. Most of them were heading to the tram stop to take the 71 line, but Ivan and Alex weren't taking it. They both knew it would be too full at that time of day, and they both wanted to be able to talk without smaller kids screaming around them. Instead, they made their way through the kids waiting to cross a lane to the tram stop, and continued walking along Race Road.

The conversation then shifted towards the possible formation of their band, which they had been talking about for weeks. "So, are you still in", asked Ivan, "'cause we need to find some new people soon, ever since Ratzburg is out." Alex frowned at the mention of Philipp Ratzburg.  _That asshole resents me for no fucking reason,_ he thought,  _like, ok, I did throw a mini-Jägermeister bottle against his wall, but I cleaned it up and apologized!_

Alex then responded: "Yeah, I'm in, but I don't know any bassist good enough to replace Ratzburg, and I think we can't rely on Richard joining if Ratzburg isn't in." Ratzburg was a classmate of Alex's even since last school year, who was repeating a grade with him. Ever since they both started repeating the grade though, Philipp had decided to start hating him, and Alex still wasn't sure why.  _I wish he was not hostile towards me, maybe then I could talk about my mutation with someone who knows about this stuff,_ he thought. Ratzburg was one of the openly out mutants in his school, whose numbers were much larger than in most Viennese schools, and his powers was pretty cool, too. He could mimic the powers of others. 

Ivan replied to Alex's remark: "Oh fuck, you're right! Then we need a bassist  **AND** a drummer! Hmm, maybe we can find a few guys in our school."

Alex suddenly became disinterested in talking about they band they were going to found, as his thoughts had shifted towards mutants. "Yeah, Ivan, forget about that for a second. I need you to listen to me, and to not tell this to anyone, ok? This is very important to me."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Does this have anything to do with your fucked-up face?" Then he smirked a bit, obviously thinking this wasn't too serious of a topic. Alex, though, thought differently.  _Oh boy, you're losing that smirk in a bit._

Alex simply took his phone out of his jacket's pocket and hovered it above his hand, and then also the keys to his apartment. Ivan's smirk did indeed, as predicted, vanish, replaced by a look of astonishment and wonder. "Dude, you're a mutant? When did your powers manifest? What happened? How?"

 _Ivan, you really need to be quieter,_ Alex thought.  _I don't need everybody on Race Road to know that I'm a mutant._ He gestured to Ivan to be a little more quiet. "First off, yeah. I am since yesterday? Today? I don't know, it happened last night, I don't know when exactly, I was drunk. Second, you know how they say mutant powers activate in stressful situations? Well, I was being mugged and beaten up when they did. And I can bend metal and let it levitate."

At the mention of Alex's powers, Ivan completely lost his mind. "Dude, you literally have the same powers as  **Magneto**! This is so cool, man! Have you tried your powers out yet?" Alex wasn't able to respond immediately, though, as he was startled by the revelation.  _Jesus, how did I completely overlook this?! I have Magneto's powers!_

"I have a bit", started Alex, "but I don't know how strong I am." He quickly put the phone and keys back into their respective jacket pockets. "I'm gonna try it out, but I don't even know how I'm supposed to find it out. Like, do I just try lifting and bending metal until I reach my limits?"

Ivan pondered that for a while. "Yeah, I think that's it. Tell me when you try your limits out, man. I wanna see it."

"Sure", said Alex, "but promise me that you won't tell anyone I'm a mutant. I don't want anyone, especially my parents, finding out about this before I can tell them."

"Deal. And again, when you test out your powers, call me! I wanna see it."

The two reached the kebab stand and stood in the long queue filled with students from two other schools. When it was their turn, they both ordered a shawarma. When they received it and paid for it, they went to the platform above the Race Road station, where there were some benches, and sat down. Alex unwrapped his shawarma from its aluminium foil wrapping with his powers.  _I wonder what else I can do with my powers,_ Alex thought.  _It surely can't be too much._

* * *

As it turned out, Alex could do a lot with his ability. As he had found out in the morning, he could pour coffee into mugs without risking the coffee pot leaking hot coffee onto his hands. He could steal money in the form coins from the cashier at a kebab stand. He could prevent his phone from falling on the floor by simply making it levitate. And as he just found out, he could even make a cigarette vending machine drop cigarettes without costing Alex a single cent. 

He quickly looked around, assuring that nobody had seen his actions, then headed home. As he climbed up the stairs to his apartment, he noticed Brock standing in the hallway, beer in hand. He smirked as soon as he saw Alex. "Hey kid, you back from school?" His English had a very strong American accent. 

Alex nodded. "Yeah, it sucked ass. By the way, I never got a chance to properly thank you all for helping me. Are Helmut and Georges here, so I can thank them?"

Brock laughed, and on his scarred and burned face, that looked downright terrifying. While Brock seemed fun to hang around, he had a very mysterious and chilling air, and Alex knew he didn't want to hang around him too much. He looked like the kind of guy to seek revenge at any cost. Brock then said: "Nope. Sorry kid, Georges and Helmut are shopping. I will transmit the message, though."

Alex nodded, muttered a 'thanks', took his keys out from his pocket and opened the door to his apartment. He quickly went into his room, threw the backpack on his bed carefully, so that it didn't land on the floor or hit the wall and hung his jacket on a bedpost, grabbing his phone, cigarettes and lighter from its pockets. He then went to grab some beers from the pentry in the hallway of the apartment building. Noticing that Brock had disappeared into the AirBnB, he took said beers and put two in the freezer and the rest in the fridge. He then sat down in the kitchen, took out a cigarette from the stolen pack, and lit it.  _The ashtray is full,_ he thought.  _Maybe I should empty it? Nah, nobody cares._

He was the only one who had arrived home, and he figured he should maybe clean the apartment a bit up, so he did. After washing the dishes, though, the buzzer rang, and he picked it up. "It's me Alex." Charly's voice came through, clear as day. He buzzed her in and unlocked the apartment door for her, just as he always did. Charly entered the apartment in no time. She wore a leather jacket, a white t-shirt and black jeans. 

"Hi", she greeted, excitedly. "How are you? And you look worse in the picture, by the way." Alex laughed at that and replied: "Hi back at ya. And yeah, I noticed. Do you wanna sit down?"

She nodded, took off her jacket and hung it on a chair, then lit herself a cigarette. After the numerous amount of times Alex had told her incessantly that she didn't need to ask in order to smoke in his apartment, she didn't even care to ask. Alex didn't mind, if he was honest with himself. Fighting against insecurities is a thing both Charly and Alex were struggling with.  _And as it turns out,_ he thought mournfully,  _between the two of us, she deals with it better than I._

She then asked suddenly: "Do you have any cold beer?" At that, Alex smiled. He had even went out of his way to buy Charly's favourite brand of beer, namely Wieselburger, as he knew she wasn't a big fan of other beer brands. He himself was fine with any beer, as long as it wasn't Ottakringer or Gösser, but Alex wasn't too picky of a beer drinker, as he wasn't the biggest beer fan. 

"Who do you think I am? I put two Wieselburger bottles in the freezer just when I came home!" Alex stood up to take out the two beer bottles from his freezer. Quickly setting the bottles on the kitchen counter, he opened a drawer and was about to grab a bottle opener, when he remembered that he was a mutant and that he had powers.  _I need to get rid of these now-useful habits, I guess,_ he thought. 

So without any further thoughts, he simply pulled the bottle caps off the bottleneck with his newly-acquired powers and then handed one of the beers to Charly, who stood there slightly stunned, probably due to not having anticipated that move. She took the beer, cracked a smile and then said: "Wow, I guess I don't need to take a bottle opener with me whenever we go drink before group therapy anymore."

At that, Alex laughed and playfully punched her on the shoulder. "Hey, that's how much I mean to you? Also, that's racist!" The playfulness in his eyes and the smile his lips formed indicated that Alex wasn't insulted, but a small voice in the back of his head whispered worries about having upset Charly with the comment to Alex. 

However, Charly didn't seem to mind the comments at all. She simply laughed and smiled, then took a sip of her beer. Alex did the same, then extinguished his cigarette, as he had smoked it up to the filter. He then just took in the relaxed air of the moment. Alex felt calm and content, being around someone he didn't have to hide his powers from. He used his powers to pick up the bottle caps, which were lying discarded on the counter, and then let them spin in the air, only for them to change course with the movements of his fingers. "But I mean, Charly, you don't need to anymore, obviously." He then pointed with his eyes towards the spinning bottle caps.

Charly grinned at that. "Yeah, well, I doubt that's the extent of your powers, Alex, if you could just completely annihilate those guys." She stopped for a while, with a look on her face indicating that she was thinking about saying something, but wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say. Finally, she did say it: "Does metal stick to you?"

"Yeah, of course it does"; said Alex, mocking offense. "Let me show you." 

He concentrated on his house keys, which were lying in the pockets of his jacket, which was in his bedroom. With ease, they rapidly zipped in the air, past Charly and stuck to his right hand. Alex then dared Charly to take the keys in her hands. After five full minutes of trying and failing to remove the keys from his hand, she gave up, annoyed and wound up from effort.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm being clowned on", said Charly in a slightly annoyed but still friendly tone. "You're an asshole, you know."

"Always a pleasure, Charly." This only seemed to irritate her further, but she soon realized how ridiculous the situation was and started laughing again. Alex unstuck the keys from his hand, and made it zip back into his room, only to realize that he had no idea where the jacket is. In order to prevent an embarrassment, he just dropped them somewhere in the room. But Charly did notice his irritated look and smirked. 

"Oh shut up, will you", said Alex, but Charly's grin grew wider. "What, Alex, I haven't said anything!" 

A pleasant silence fell on the two, and only then did Alex notice that Charly had brought her guitar with her, no doubt to practice before her big day. And thus he got an idea. He then went into the room, feeling Charly's eyes question this wordlessly. Alex returned with his acoustic guitar, which had steel strings due to his preferences. As soon as he entered, Charly instantly understood what was going on. "Oh my god, you're a genius, dude! Of course, you can learn to play guitar without even using your hands!"

Alex smirked and replied: "Yeah, when I saw your guitar, that's what went through my head. I wonder..." He managed to strum the chords with his powers, and then tried to pick them, while smoking with his right hand at the same time. It didn't work as expected, but it worked nonetheless.  _With a bit of practice,_ Alex mused,  _I could play like this just as well as normal._

Just then, his phone rang, and he looked at who it was. It was Alex's mom.  _Oh great,_ he thought,  _now I have to deal with my mom. Can't I have just one day without talking to you without you going full mother hen on me?_ He then looked to Charly, mouthed a 'sorry', and went into his room to pick up. "Hi mom. How are you doing?". Alex's greeting was all fake-mirth and happiness.

The reply he received had less of that, and more of worry and annoyance. "Alex, you should've called me yesterday. I was worried about you! You always make me worry so much, Alex. How can I know something has not happened to you if we do not communicate?"

Alex, to his credit, resisted the almost irresistible urge to sigh like a professional. His mother had always been worried about him, but she was clearly exaggerating at this point. "Mom, I'm fine, don't worry so much, I am fine, Stephan is fine, nothing happened."

His mom began sounding angry. "Stop telling me how to act! You should show me some respect!" Alex rolled his eyes at that. "Yes, mom, I'm sorry", he replied. "I'll do better next time."

"Well, you better, young man! Call me when you're more respectful." And with that, his mom hung up. Alex sighed in defeat, and put his phone back in a pocket. Then, he took a jar from his dresser. Inside were about 10 grams of cannabis. Alex really felt like he needed the hit. He took it with him, and came back into the kitchen, sat down and put it between him and Charly. She gave him an amused look. 

"I'm tired of my mom's shit"; he told her sadly, "so let's fuck ourselves up. I wanna forget about her." They continued talking about the day, the guys who helped him after he was almost beaten up and robbed, and other things too, as they rolled a blunt. In the meantime, Abel and Stephan arrived at home, too, together. They looked happy and asked if they could join the round. Alex indicated on the jar and said: "We've got enough to arrive in another dimension, guys."

As he inhaled the smoke from the joint, Alex thought:  _The weekend is finally here, now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I wanted to post this on the 12th of April, but I fucked up... anyway, if you don't like drug use, sorry.


End file.
